Chemical grafting of poly(aniline) and poly(o-toluidine) onto PET fibre — a comparative study

Oxidative chemical polymerization of aniline and o-toluidine was carried out by using peroxo monosulphate as a lone initiator in an aqueous acidic medium in the presence of PET fibre. The PET fibre was tested for chemical grafting of poly(aniline) (PANI) and poly(o-toluidine) (POT) onto that. The content of PANI (wt%) in the backbone was found to vary while varying the [monomer], [initiator] and amount of fibre during the polymerization of aniline and o-toluidine. Various graft parameters like the rate of grafting (Rg), % grafting and % efficiency were evaluated. The rate of homopolymerization (Rh) was also followed in both cases. The chemical grafting was confirmed using FTIR, UV-Visible and conductivity measurements.